Safety release for refrigerator doors



Jag. 13, 1959 Hi DIS UIRE ETAL SAFETY. RELEASE; FOR REFRLGERATOR nooas I 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed June 26,, 1956 INVENTOR. #eeaeerp. ago/26m eezo/v /v. anwnr Jan. 13, 1959 H. D. sQulRE EIAL 2,868,578

SAFETY RELEASE FOR REFRIGERATOR DOORS Filed June 26. 1956 INVENTOR.

2 Sheets-Sheet 2 United States Patent SAFETY RELEASE FOR REFRIGERATOR DooRs Herbert D. Squire and Rezon N. Brandt, Galesburg, IlL, assiguors to Midwest Manufacturing Corporation, Galesburg, 11]., a corporation of Illinois Application June 26, 1956, Serial No. 593,938

2 Claims. (Cl. 292-223) This invention relates to a safety release for a domestic refrigerator door which enables the door to be opened from the inside.

In recent years numerous children have died as a result of climbing into a refrigerator and then having the door closed on them. Conventional refrigerators of the type used in the home have no provision for opening the door from the inside, so that once the door is closed the child inside has no way of extricating himself. This hazardous deficiency in present-day domestic refrigerators is eliminated by the present invention, which is directed to a novel safety release mechanism which is applied to a domestic refrigerator door latch to enable the door to be readily opened from the inside.

Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide a novel safety release for a domestic refrigerator door by means of which the door may be opened from the inside.

It is also an object of this invention to provide such a safety release which will be readily noticeable to anyone inside the refrigerator and which can be quite easily manipulated to open the door.

Another object of the invention is to provide a door release so that the normal reaction of a frightened person would be to strike the same and open the door.

Another object of this invention is to provide such a safety release which may be readily applied to operate a conventional refrigerator door latch without requiring substantial modification or rearrangement of the same.

A further object of this invention is to provide such a safety release which takes up very little space and does not interfere with the normal functioning of the door latch, which is rugged and dependable in its operation, and which may be provided at reasonable cost as an auxiliary to a conventional latch for a refrigerator door.

Other and further objects and advantages of the present invention will be apparent from the following detailed description of a preferred embodiment thereof, which is illustrated in the accompanying drawings.

In the drawings:

Figure 1 is a sectional view, with parts broken away for clarity, showing a refrigerator door latch with the present safety release applied thereto;

Figure 2 is a view taken along the line 22 in Fig. 1;

Figure 3 is a view taken along the line 3--3 in Fig. 1;

Figure 4 is an elevational view of the present safety release trip means removed from the door; and

Figure 5 is a fragmentary section through the safety release, taken along the line 5-5 in Fig. 4.

Referring to Fig. 1, the refrigerator is provided with a conventional door latch mechanism which is operated by the handle (not shown) on the front of the door in the usual manner. This latch mechanism includes a generally L-shaped keeper 11 which projects forward from the front panel 12 of the side 13 of the refrigerator ICC cabinet. The forward extremity of this keeper presents a rearwardly and inwardly inclining cam surface 14.

The refrigerator door 15 is of hollow, sheet metal construction and carries a gasket 16 shown diagrammatically of rubber or the like to provide a seal against the main refrigerator housing when the door is closed. The door is hinged to the opposite side of the refrigerator housing from that shown in Fig. l. A cylindrical roller 17 is rotatably mounted on a cross pin 18 carried by a bifurcated latch member 19 at one end. This latch member is pivotally supported at its opposite end by means of a cross pin 20 carried by a support bracket 27 secured rigidly to the inner face of thefront panel 15a of the door 15. This support bracket (Figs. 2 and 3) includes a pair of spaced flat mounting portions 27a and 27b, by which it is secured to the front panel of the door, and spaced arms 27c and 27d extending back from these mounting portions. The cross pin 20 extends between these bracket arms 27c and 27d and is rigidly supported by them. v

A spring guide plate 21 is pivotally connected at one of its ends to the latch member 19 by means of a cross pin 22 rigidly attached to the plate 21 and snugly received in a complementary hole in latch member 19. This pivotal connection between plate 21 and latch member 19 is located off-center of a line joining the pivot 20 for the latch member 19 and the cross pin 18 which supports roller 17. At its opposite end the spring guide plate 21 is formed with an elongated slot 23 which receives a cross pin 24 attached to a bifurcated actuator 25. The actuator 25, in turn, is pivotally supported at its opposite end by a cross pin 26 carried by support bracket 27. A coil spring 28 is under compression between a shoulder 29 on the guide plate 21 (adjacent the latters pivotal connection to latch member 19) and the cross pin 24.

It will be apparent that this provides a toggle arrangement for controlling the position of the roller 17 carried by latch member 19. Thus, referring to Fig. 1, when the cross'pin 24 is to the left of a center line joining the cross pins 26 and 22, the spring 28 biases the latch member 19 clockwise about its pivotal pin 20, which puts the roller 17 in its locking position, engaging the keeper 11 at the latters flat transversely protruding face 11a. Conversely, when the cross pin 24 is to the right of the center line through pins 26 and 22 in Fig. 1, spring 23 acts to pivot the latch member 19 counter-clockwise about pin 20, to move the roller 17 to its release position, away from engagement with the keeper 11, as shown by the dashed lines in Fig. 1.

The bifurcated actuator 25 also includes a bridging portion 25a (Fig. 3) which interconnects the opposite legs of this actuator and which is provided with an extension arm 30 projecting inwardly away from the front panel 15a of the door and laterally on either side of the actuator. A torsion spring 31, which loosely encircles the pivot pin 26 for actuator 25, has one of its ends seated against the support bracket 27 and its other end bearing against arm 30. Spring 31 thus biases actuator 25 and its extension arm 30 counter-clockwise in Fig. 1, so as to position the pivot pin 24 to the left of the center line joining pins 26 and 22, thereby biasing roller 17 to its locking position.

The support bracket 27 is formed with spaced cross pieces 27c and 27f positioned to the left of the bridging portion 25a of the actuator 25 to limit the counter-clockwise movement of the actuator 25'and its extension arm 30. One of these cross pieces carries a pin 32 which provides a pivotal support for a bell crank lever 33. One end of an actuating rod 34 is connected to one arm of the bell crank lever, the other end of this rod being suitably coupled to the door handle (not shown). The other arm of the bell crank lever 33 overlies the bracket arms 27a immediately adjacent the bridging .portiona of actuator 25. 'Whenthe 'doorhandle is actuated to pull the actuating rod 34to"the left in Figs. 1 and 2, the bell crank lever 33 is pivoted about pin 32 (counterclockwise in Fig. 2) to thereby pivot actuator 25 clockwise in Fig. 1 about its pivot pin 26, against the bias exerted by torsion spring 31. When this happens, the actuator 25 moves tothe right as illustrated by the dashed lines and carries cross pin 24 to the right of the center line through pins 26 and 22, thereby causing the latch member 1) to be pivoted counter-clockwise and thereby retract roller 17 away from its latching position.

Thus far, except for the extension arm -36 the described latch mechanism is essentially conventional.

In accordance with the present invention the door latch is provided with a novel safety release which maybe operated from inside the refrigerator. Thus, if a child should be shut in the refrigerator he need simply opcrate thissafety release in order to open the door from the inside. The position of the actuator is such that even in his panic he will strike the same effecting his release.

This safety release comprises an actuator handle indicated generally by the reference numeral id. This actuatorhandiehas one arm ll which extends behind the inside panel 42 of the door substantially parallel to the door. Preferably an escutcheon plate 43 having a central disc 43 of material which glows in the dark is mounted on this arm of actuator handle 40 so as to be readily noticeable from inside the refrigerator. This escutcheon plate also may carry the instructions push, so that a child locked inside the refrigerator will know what to do to open the door. Should the child be too young to read, the glowing disc will attract his attention and appear to be light toward which he is more apt to extend his hand to cause the operation of the release.

Another arm 4% of actuator handle a l extends-toward the front panel or the door and is pivotally supported on a cross pin 46 carried by a bracket 45, which is rigidly fastened to the inside panel of the door. As shown in Fig. 4, bracket 45 is provided with hat mounting portions 45a and 4512 provided with holes for receiving crews by' which it'is attached to the inside door panel. An elongated sheet metal actuator member 47 is coupled to the arm =34 of the actuator handle l-tlby means of a clip 48. The member 47 is also provided with wings 4%, engaged with the cross pin 46. With this arrangement a substantiallyrigid coupling between the actuator handle iii and the actuator member 47'" is provided. The curved free end 47b of the actuator arm 47 engages the oppositely curved free end of the extension arm 3d of the door latch actuator 25.

When the door is closed, the parts are in position shown in Fig. 1. The spring 31 biases the latch actuator 25 and its extension arm counter-clockwise to position the cross pin 24 to the left of the center line through pins 26 and 22, so that spring 28 biases the latch memher it? clockwise to maintain rollerll in latching engagement with the keeper ll.

To open the door from the inside, the actuator handle is pushed forward toward the door. The actuator assembly 49, 47 pivots counter-clockwise about the cross pin 46 carried by bracket and the free end of the actuator arm 47 pushes the extension arm 33 of actuator -25 clockwise. The clockwise movement of actuator 25 about its pivot 2:: causes the pivot pin 24 to move over-center to the right of the center line through pins 26 and .22. Accordingly, latch. member iii moves counterclockwise and the roller 17 is retracted away from iatch ing engagement with the'keeper l1, permitting the door to open.

it will he particularly noticed as illustrated in Fig. 1 that the safety release trip extends in substantially parallelism with the 'frontofthe door and well away from the inner door panel. As thus disposed the release is prominently displayed to anyone disposed within the refrigerator and in a position where a child could not help but strike it accidentally in his panic stricken efforts to get out. It will also be noted that it is in close proximity to the latch, which normally is positioned at the mid point of the door even though the outer operating handle may be higher, and that because of its direct connection even a very slight efiort causes its operation.

it will therefore be apparent that we have provided a door release wherein children even if locked in the refrigerator can even in panic extricate themselves, and that the device in no way interferes with the normal functioning of the mechanism.

Having thus described the invention in an embodiment thereof we are aware that numerous and extensive departures may be made therefrom without departingfrom the invention as defined in the appended claims.

We claim:

1. In combination with a hollow sheet metal refrigerator door havingspaced front and back panels and an outer side which joins said panels, a sealing gasket on the back panel adjacent said outer side, said back panel having a first opening therein inward from said gasket for receiving a keeper on the cabinet of the refrigerator, and said back panel inward from said first opening extending back and presenting a portion disposed rearward from said gasket and havinga second opening therein, a first support bracket secured to the inner face of said front panel on the door, and a door latch pivotally supported from said first support bracket between said front and back panels for movement between a door-locking position and a release position, said latch including an over-center toggle spring mechanism and an actuator for operating said spring mechanism which is pivotally mounted on said first supportbracket at the side of said toggle spring mechanism away from said outer side of the door, the improvement which comprises an extension on said actuator which extends away from its pivotal mounting back toward said back panel and terminates in a free-end positioned at the side of said pivotal mounting away from the outer side of the door and forward from said back panel, the free end of said extension being movable toward the outer side of the door to move the door latch from its door-locking position to its release position, a second support bracket secured to theback panel of the door at said rearwardly disposed second opening therein, a safety release actuator pivotally supported by said second support bracket, said safety release actuator comprising a handle pivoted on said second support bracket and extending behind said back panel, said'handle *behind said back panel carrying an escutcheon which emits light, and an elongated member connected rigidly to said handle forward from the latters pivotal mounting and extending toward said front panel and terminating in a free end which engages the free end of the extension 011 said first-mentioned actuator at the side of said extension away from the outer side of the door for moving said extension in said one direction about-its pivotal mounting on the first support bracket to operate the spring mechanism to move the latch from its door-locking position to'its release position when the handle is pushed toward the door, said first support bracket presenting a stop, and a torsion spring engaging said first-mentioned actuator and biasing it in the opposite direction about its pivotal mounting into engagement with said stop to position the free end of its extension engaging the free end of said elongated member on the safety release actuator to position the handle substantially parallel to the door behind the back .panel thereof.

.2. in combination with a hollow door having a front panel and .-a back panel -spaced therefrom, and;a1door latch comprising an actuator pivotally mounted on the door between said panels and an over-center toggle spring mechanism disposed between said panels of the door and coupled to said actuator at one side of the latters pivotal mounting and rearward from said pivotal mounting, said toggle spring mechanism being movable from a door-locking position to a release position upon pivotal movement of said actuator in one direction about its pivotal mounting, the improvementwhich comprises an extension connected to said actuator and extending therefrom rearward toward the back panel of the door and terminating in a free end which is disposed forward of said back panel at the opposite side of said pivotal mounting for the actuator, and a safety release actuator pivotally supported from the door at said back panel, said safety release actuator having a handle disposed behind said back panel and an elongated member connected rigidly to said handle and extending forward away from said pivotal mounting for the safety release actuator toward the front panel of the door and terminating in a free end which engages the free end of said extension at the opposite side of said extension from the pivotal mounting for said first-mentioned actuator, said free end of said elongated member of the safety release actuator, upon movement of the handle toward the door, moving toward said toggle spring mechanism and forcing the free end of said extension on said first-mentioned actuator in said one direction to move the latter from its door-locking position to its release position.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,147,269 Rosenheim July 20, 1915 2,210,495 North Aug. 6, 1940 2,302,165 Anderson Nov. 17, 1942 2,655,395 Groeger Oct. 13, 1953 2,718,421 Slopa et a1. Sept. 20, 1955 2,733,090 Coplen Jan. 31, 1956 2,778,326 Guzik Jan. 22, 1957 2,803,956 Womer Aug. 27, 1957 

